family sailing on a beneteau first 38

Cost to Cruise: April, 2018

Boilerplate disclaimer: this is not what it will cost you to go cruising.

We’re not the only ones looking to avoid the bash north from Baja; these boats are being loaded onto a freighter for their trip to California and points north. Another cruiser we met said her costs to ship the boat to Vancouver from La Paz were about the same as hiring a delivery crew, minus the wear and tear on her boat.

People’s constant advice, discussing cruising finances, always seems to be: It’ll cost what you have. We did not find this helpful in our planning, however true it may be. What we’re trying to show is the cost to us, more or less, for one month to go cruising. We’re going for monthly expenses, because they’re easier for us to track; so you won’t see the boat insurance amortized, you’ll just see that expense when we pay it. It won’t be what you’ll spend, but it was the kind of information that helped us out when we were trying to wrap our heads around that magical number for our cruising kitty.

Cheapest. Month. Ever. Clearly, we do well when we’re in the middle of nowhere. We’re also trying to use up what we have; pretty sure we have enough TP to last us through the end of our journey, so that’s one major expense covered. Numbers for April:

Marinas: $291.44

Grocery: $352.21

Restaurant: $246.22

Supplies: $47.28

Booze: $18.68

Laundry: $33.76

Communications: $152.44

Fuel: $84.90, diesel

Ice Cream: $21.63

Transportation: $94.39

Water: $23.59

Boat Parts: $34.30

Entertainment: $38

Boat Sales: $95

Dentist: $32.93

Grand Total: $1566.77

A few notes on the outliers:

Transportation numbers reflect a car rental in Puerto Escondido, and some pretty pricy cab rides. We don’t use Uber, for a variety of reasons, but it’s the cheaper choice in La Paz.

We’ve been trying to sell the boat, but maybe not as hard as we could be. The $95 is from our Latitude 38 ad, which we expected to yield a lot more love. Craigslist has gotten us more responses, and it’s free—but they’re not exactly the responses we were hoping for. And just to be clear: we do not want to trade the boat for a car, even if it is a BMW. Sorry, Craigslist Dude.

Entertainment included a trip to see the new Avengers movie, of course; also, the $20 to get bodice-ripper Kindle ads off T’s new device.

T had a wicked cavity in a baby canine. Excellent, timely, professional care for about $30.